Orange Sky Revelations: Rax
WARNING: THE FOLLOWING MAY CONTAIN WORDS AND ACTIONS NOT SUITABLE FOR SOME. PLEASE BE ADVISED. (A prequel to Orange Sky) Chapter 1. Rax: The Bastard (Prologue) "March! March you useless bastards!" Bastards. That's what we are. Nothing more. My name is Rax, but the other soldiers usually call me Tesla. Yeah. Don't get me wrong, I don't have a problem with that, but nicknaming me after a germaphobic sociopath of a genius is more of an insult than a nickname. They call me that because of my skill with technology. Give me some scrap and a lazer pistol, I can make a grenade like you've never seen. Despite the fact that I have a useful talent, the troop leader still treats me like shit. Don't get me wrong though, it's not just me. Kat: 21. Born to be bitchy. Never thought anyone could be as bad as her, but hey, at least she's a damn good fighter. Not as hot as Carrie, but still hot. Ace: 32. Don't quite know his story, but he has a hell of a stutter. Seems to be the long range expert of the group. Keeps a gun on his back at all times. Carrie: 19. Hot. I mean... Hot. Sexy. Beautiful. With my luck, though, the legion pricks will probably take her before I can even get a chance to flirt with her. Mick: 25. He's the cocky one. If it wouldn't get me a DD, I'd kill him on the spot. I know I can be a bit sarcastic at times, but this son of a bitch deserves a medal for arrogance. Me: 20. Tired of this... Tired of the killing. The others want to be sent to the front lines, but not me. Not at all. Rodger: Our troop leader. The one who smokes ancient cigars and lights up Jet. The one who labels us bastards. The one who deserves to die the most. That's just the basic shit. I could go on all day about it, but it would take too long, so I'll just start from the beginning. Chapter 2. Catching Your Keep My first day, I had no idea what I was walking into. There were my new partners, of course. Kat, this brown-haired, tan skinned girl. Kept eyeing me, even though she acted like she hated me. Mick said that I was lucky, that she treated me the best. Mick, of course, was the biggest asshole in the group. At least you could understand him. Not like the girl. The others, Carrie, and Ace, weren't as big as Kat and Mick. Didn't stand out as much. Rodger had us all line up in the McCarran courtyard. Not really a courtyard, more like a big slab of concrete. Told us that our skill would be tested today. Looking at the group, he must've seen what a bunch of dumbasses we were. Half of us wouldn't talk, and the other half wouldn't shut up, arguing over trivial matters. Rodger doesn't. "Alright. You've ben asking to go to the front lines, so I'll do you all a favor. You all take out some Legion camps, I'll send in some requests. Maybe tweak some things. But before that happens, until you all know when and when not to talk..." So he's going to make us work. And for what? He'll probably walk into Lt.'s high as hell on jet, and tell him to change our position when the "Main Attack" comes. We all know that's not coming. When it does, we'll all probably be dead. Even so, everyone got excited. Not me. No, I'm the downer of the group. The next morning, Mick got us all up early, and I had half a mind to punch him. My gut told me not to, but it wasn't until the last second I reminded myself he's not worth it. We'd be going to invade a legion camp in the next few hours. It was a bit exciting, I have to admit. Despite the fact that I had this sort of... Nonchalant demeanor on, I was pumped up for it. We all were.... *** We had entered Legion territory, not too far south of the Strip. I'd put on an old digital watch I found before I joined the NCR, and noticed it was later than I'd thought. I looked up had just noticed the sun setting; A bright, orange colored sky. Rodger motioned for us to go through a small, valley-like path that led to the gate to the legion camp. Kat and I exchanged worried looks. She had a sense of fear, I could tell. I looked around. Everyone had lost that sense of excitement I felt back in the barracks. Rodger briefed us on the mission. "Alright. This camp has been pissing us off for the past few months. They've been messing with us little by little, setting fire to food stores, killing messengers to block communication. Right now, our best bet is to sneak in, and surprise them from the inside. Then, we won't have to deal with them." Knowing we didn't have a choice now, we all followed Rodger into the camp. we moved into a small tent. I noticed something was off. I counted the members... Me... Ace... Carrie... Kat... Mick and Rodger were gone. I hear whistles and gunshots. Then I know where Mick is. Cocky bastard was screaming to the top of his lungs, firing in all directions. Idiot. Suprisingly, his bullets are effective to a degree. I see some legion soldiers fall to the ground. Others wounded, pulling out pistols and spears. Unfortunately, it's too late for them. Rodger's flanked them, firing from the sides. Of course, Rodger's gun is silenced, so they still think it's Mick that's shooting at them. About 5 minutes into the gunfire, we decide to take a chance and go out into the action. A brisk wind sent dust flying into my eyes, blinding me, burning my eyes. I shook my head, trying to stay with the group, but by the time I'd opened my eyes, it was apparent the fighting was over. I looked around. Rodger had a gunshot wound to the chest. And somehow... By some magical force... That dumbass Mick was still alive. Figures. Chapter 3. Cooling Down We got two days to relax, back at camp. Most of us spent the first day out in the courtyard, drinking beer, singing songs, getting to know each other. "N-n-nice job back there, M-Mickead." Ace stuttered. "Hey, I didn't see you 'fuh-fuh-fighting' too much back there, lizard-lips." Mick said mockingly. We all laughed, even though we knew Mick was a jackass for saying that. "We had a plan." Carrie said. "Would've gone a lot smoother if you had just done what you were supposed to. Now Rodger's lying there with a hole in his chest." "Screw Rodger. He can choke on his own lungs for all I care. Besides, girl, I know something that can go a lot smoother." He flirted. I don't know if it was the funniest thing I'd ever seen, or the most sickening. We all knew he wasn't getting any, especilly not from Carrie. Either way, I chuckled. It was quiet for a moment, until Kat broke the silence. "Man. When I get outta here... And I'm done with this Legion bullshit... I'll just be glad to see my little sister. I don't care about anything else." "T--t-tell me about it." Ace agreed. "Family... Huh." Mick said. "Ain't that all that matters?" And for once, he didn't sound like an inconsiderate douchebag. "What about you, Tesla?" Someone said. I think it was Kat. "Got any family?" At the time, I was too busy staring at the ground and half-listening to the conversations. My eyes didn't move from the stone. "No." I said. It was true. I'd only known people I'd met along my travels. Never knew my family. This little group of people I'd known for the past 2 weeks was the closest thing to a family I'd ever had. "That's it?" Kat asked. "Just no?" "Well. Everyone has a story. Mine's just average." Ace threw me a beer. I hardly caught it, seeing as how my vision had still been locked on the ground. I looked up at him and nodded gratefully. I thought about what Kat said. "I'll just be glad to see my little sister." I realized that she wasn't as much of a bitch as we all assumed her to be. She was just tired of this. The NCR, The Legion. All of it. I think we all are, but Kat must be hurting the most. She seems distant from the rest of us. But hey, I'm one to talk. "You gotta have someone. No friends? Relatives?" "I know a few people in the Strip. Have some people who took care of me, kind of raised me, in a small town called Goodsprings. That's pretty much it." I said. I took a swig from the bottle, which gave me half a reason to stop talking. We all spent the rest of the night talking about what we're going to do when we get home. Mick, of course, just wants to drink and have sex. Carrie wants to see her parents again. Ace said he'd always wanted to go see one of those vaults. I felt some eyes on me, and I knew someone was just dying to ask me to spill out more of my life secrets. Before I could ruin the moment again, I decided to go back to the barracks. Sitting down on my "bed" composed of a matress and tin, I flicked on the radio that sat on the nightstand next to me. Switching through the channels, I heard bits of Frank Sinatra, The Ink Spots, and pretty much every other ancient song written by a wannabe cowboy, or a man with woman issues. I stopped after a while, and realised that I was hearing a song I'd never heard before. I was walkin' along, minding my business When out of an orange colored sky, Flash! Bang! Alakazam! Love hit me straight in the eye! I flipped through the radio several more times. I had the urge to go back, and continue listening to the song, but I was already flipping the "On-Off" switch to Off. "Find anything?" I was surprised to hear a deep female voice come from in front of me. Kat was there, leaning up against the doorframe. "What?" I asked. "To listen to, Tesla. Did you find anything to listen to?" "Oh. Not really. Static, old music, the usual." "Guess that's all you're gonna get, then, huh?" She came and sat next to me on the bed. "You left pretty quick back there." "Not like I'm going anywhere. I'll be stuck in this place for a while." "Yeah, well..." Kat sighed. "So... What's your real name, Tesla?" I had just realized. Most of these guys didn't know my name. Only that Rodger called me Tesla when he saw my skill with electronics, and the name stuck. 'It's, uh... Rax." She smiled at me. I don't know why. She seemed to have a strong dislike for me earlier, and now, she's sitting next to me in my room, having a polite converation with me, like we're best buddies. "Yeah. Nice to meet you, Rax." She held out a hand. I hesitantly shook it, trying to figure out what her game was. "I'll let you know now, Rax." She said. "I like you, but this is the nicest I'll ever be to you." And with that, she left the room. These people confuse the hell out of me. Chapter 4. A True Loss I awoke the next morning to find Ace and Mick hovering above me, cackling. I rose from the bed, bracing myself to be annoyed. "What's up, man?" Mick said. "Heard you and Kat had some fun in here last night." "What?" I said, rising from the bed, and looking at them angrily. I had one day to do what I wanted. I wanted to sleep, and they were bothering me. Of course. "Y'know. Little bit of this?" Mick did a crude pelvic thrust while biting his bottom lip. Instict finally took over. I was tired of Mick and his cocky attitude. I grabbed him by the throat, and pushed him to the wall that stood behind him. I didn't hesitate to punch him in the mouth as hard as I could. A few seconds later, I felt Ace grabbing me by the arms and pulling me back. By the time I had calmed down, I noticed that Carrie had entered the room, and that Mick was lying in fetal position on the ground, holding his face. "C-c-c-could've held back." Ace stuttered. He and Carrie ran over, and they dragged Mick out of the room. I knew it wasn't healthy that the first thought that went through my mind was, "Finally. Now I can go back to bed." *** Later, I felt a sense of discomfort as we were called to the Medical Tent. I saw everyone there. Carrie, Ace, Kat. I looked around a bit to find Mick being tended to by the closest thing we have to a nurse. "Damn, kid. Whoever did this to you really know how to pack a punch. Two missing teeth, a broken nose. I wouldn't be suprised if you lost a bit of your skull." The nurse said. 'Yeah, I kn--" Mick was interrupted by his own scream. "Don't talk. It'll hurt like hell if you do." The nurse said. "Well, that's all I can tell you. Now get out. I got a man with an infection waiting to die." He pointed to someone laying down on a rickety, old cot. After a few seconds, I finally noticed that it was Rodger laying on the cot. That one word rolled through my mind. Infection. Not too many people survive a gunshot wound. Add an infection, that's certain death. Mick walked over to me, and stared me in the eyes. I raised a hand in hope for a shake, but he flinched. I laughed a little inside, over the thought of what was going on. Mick, the most annoying person in the camp, couldn't talk, was afraid of me, and he lost two of his teeth. This had to be the greatest day of my NCR career. *** The next morning, everything was different. We were sent on a mission to another Legion camp, this time without Rodger. We decided to take three positions. Kat and I would take out the West side of the camp, while Carrie and Mick took out the East. Ace set up a sniping position on a tall hill outside of the camp. Things didn't go as planned. Kat and I were constantly watching each other's backs. It wasn't anything like that for Mick and Carrie. Carrie was laying on the groung with a mouthful of blood, while Mick way paying no attention to her. There was no sign of Ace up on the hill. He was gone. And all the while, tens of legion soldiers were pouring out of the tents on the far side of the camp. That's all I can remember. *** I woke up with my hands tied behind my back. This guy, wearing heavy legion armor... "Centurions" They call them. He was sharpening a machete, a dark grin drawn across his face. my mind raced, and I remembered I had a combat knife concealed in my belt. I decided my best option was to free myself and attack when the time was right. It'd been about an hour after I cut myself free, when the legion soldier started aproaching me. He held a blade up to my neck. Cold. I acted quickly, knocking the blade out of his hands and slitting his wrists. While he was focused on his wrists, I knocked him out. I heard voices, and saw two more soldiers coming in. Something was odd about them... One of them was female. The other was wearing glasses. Kat and Ace. *** "What the hell...?" I said. "Surprised?" Kat asked. "We went through fucking hell trying to save you." "And why is that?" "Would you rather we tie you back up?" "No, no. I'm fine. But... What about Carrie and Mick?" "Carrie's dead. And Mick..." The two led me to Mick, who was lying on the ground, shaking, and covered in blood. He had a knife in his gut. I kneeled down next to him. He looked at me, his mouth open and red with blood. He looked at me in disgust, which was shocking to me at the time. Man was dying, I didn't want the last thing he felt to be hate. "Sorry." Was all I could say. He continued staring at me, until he opened his semi-toothless mouth to say something. Nope. It was to spit blood all over my face. Purposely. I wanted to kick him, punch him, yell at him. Something. But... I didn't. I couldn't. "Lets go." I said, wiping the blood and saliva off of my face as I stood up. "Nothing we can do about him." We walked out of the Legion camp silently. Chapter 5. A Change In Tide The three of us returned to Camp McCarran. I went back into the Medical Tent. Kat followed, but I think Ace trailed off as soon as we got here. "Where's Rodger?" I asked the Nurse, who was busy using needles as darts, and a poster of a red cross as the dartboard. "Who?" "Rodger. The guy with the infection." "Oh. He's dead, pal." Of course. They were all dead. Colonel Hsu called us to his office. Kat, Ace and I, that is. I knew it was important, but I wasn't sure what would happen. He never spoke with us before, only Rodger and the other Higher-Ups. We walked into his office. It was small room, smaller than I expected it to be. We approached his desk, where he sat patiently. "Ah. Here you are." Hsu said, looking up at us. "You've all been through a lot in the past few weeks. I know you've lost many of your friends, and... Well, you've all done what was asked of you, performed your tasks as we asked... I'm willing to get you an Honorable Discharge." Kat and I exchanged looks. We didn't know how to respond, and we really knew Ace didn't. "We don't..." I tried to say something, but there were no words for my conflicted emotions. "Well... You have the choice. You can take it, if you'd please." *** This was my chance to leave, but I had no idea where to go. I didn't know whether or not I'd know what to do when I left the NCR. We'd gone back to the barracks. Kat was packing her stuff up already. "So you're going." I said. "Yeah." Kat said. "I'm leaving, and going back to see my sister, and I'm not leaving her this time." I sat on the bed, unsure on how to respond. "Are you going?" She asked. "I don't have anywhere to go, as much as I want to leave." Kat looked at me, sighing. "I like you, Rax, so I'll make you a deal." This should be good. "You can come along with me if you point out any good tech that we could use." She walked over to me. "That's it?" I asked. "That's all." It seemed too good to be true. "Alright, Kat." The thought of me leaving this place... It didn't compute for me. I tried to make sense of it all... "I just..." Kat wanted to say something. Before I knew it, she was kissing me. I was so damn confused at this point. She either hated me, or she was licking my face off. She was like a bipolar-bear. But, I couldn't move. I was frozen. And she'd leapt onto me. And things went on from there. Chapter 6. Moving On (Epilogue) I woke up the morning after to find Kat, completely naked under the covers, with her head on my chest. I decided that if we were going to leave today, I would start packing up, seeing as how I hadn't done so at all the night before. I slipped from under the covers, and threw a pair of dusty, old NCR pants on. I decided to pack up most of my belongings; My Non-NCR clothes, my dogtags, and of course, my radio. I felt a sense of relaxation with the radio in my hands. I turned it on for one last song before I threw it in my dufflebag. If course, Mr. New Vegas had this dominating voice, which frankly, annoyed me when I found out how much everyone loved him. And there it was again. The same, mesmerizing song that played two days before. Flash! Bang! Alakazam! Out of an orange colored, purple striped, blue-green polkadot sky! "So, you did find something." Kat said. She was awake, and looking at me. "Yeah, I've heard this before." Kat yawned, turning around in bed. "I'm getting dressed in a minute." She said. "So?" "So get out." She said, despite the fact that I'd seen most of her the night before. And I did. Not that I was afraid of her hurting me, I was afraid that she'd hurt me in the wrong spot. And she seems like just the person to do that. I waited outside patiently, as Kat changes clothes. After about 15 minutes of me sitting on the ground, twiddling my thumbs, Kat finally gave me the "all clear" signal. I walked in, and noticed that she wasn't wearing her uniform. She looked different. I couldn't quite tell how, though, other than the fact that she had a look of relief on her face. I walked over to my bags, and finished packing up, and I looked at Kat. "You ready?" She asked. "I thought you'd be more commanding." I said. I walked over to the door. "Yeah. I'm ready," We went to Hsu's office, and were surprised to find that he sent the paperwork in already, despite the fact that we said we weren't sure. Something told me that went against NCR regulations, but I didn't care. We were free to leave, and that's all I cared about. We left camp McCarran, and were out in the small buildings of Outer Vegas. "So, where do we go from here?" "Westside. My sister's there. We'll get her, and be out of this fucking situation." Whatever. I just wanted to escape from McCarran. *** As we entered Westside, I noticed that it was a lot smaller of a town that I expected it to be. I hadn't been here, only in Freeside, and the Strip. There were some interesting characters around here, one of which was a mutant. I hadn't heard his name, if he had one, but I saw someone calling him a mean son of a bitch. We approched a small building, and as soon and I entered, I saw a large man yelling at a small girl. She was fragile-looking, and very skinny. "You think this is funny? Huh?" The man said. "No, sir." She said quietly. "Then clean. It. Up." He pointed to a large puddle. "I don't have anything to clean it up with..." The man growled. He raised his hand and brought id down in a swift motion, hitting the girl. "Hey!" Kat yelled. She ran at the man. "The fuck do you think you're doing?!" She pushed him back into the wall behind him. "She spilled Sarsaparilla all over the damned floor!" Kat bent down next to the girl. "Stella, are you alright?" The girl didn't make a sound, but a cut ran from her lip. I saw how Kat was holding her face, and inspecting her, and knew that this was her sister. "I'm fine." She said. Kat stood up and looked at the man. "I tell you to take care of her, and you smack her around?" I saw Kat reach for a knife in her belt, but she must've decided he wasn't worth the trouble, because she just punched him in the stomach, and threw him to the ground. Kat took Stella by the hand and walked over to me. 'Let's go." She said. "Go where?" I asked. "Theres a shack out to the southwest. No raiders, no Legion. We'll be safe there." All I could do was hope she was right. ~~TheOddyssey